Lacamas Lake Water Quality

Is Lacamas Lake safe to swim in?

I began this project with the assumption that Lacamas Lake was safe to swim in but is it?

This spot is so beautiful with a boat launch, pier, picnic areas and trails.

After studying this area for a few weeks my opinion started to change. Is all of this beauty just lipstick on a pig?

This lake is 65 feet deep and 315 acres.

It extends from Hockinson on the North end to Camas on the South.

This watershed flows through forest, farm, industrial and residential areas .

Poor land management and development has allowed sediment and toxins to spill into the lake causing algae growth and eutrophication below 18 feet.

High nitrogen, phosphorus and ammonia levels have been recorded.

Lake health has not improved much since clean up efforts in the 80’s and 90’s.

Sedimentation in Lake

1800 1850 1900 1950 20000

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Changes in Lacamas Lake Sedimentation

Year

Perc

ent

Incre

ase in S

edim

enta

tion

Land Use Around Lacamas Lake

forest

farm

developed

water

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

Land Use in Lacamas Creek Watershed

Heritage trail is 3.5 miles of beautiful scenery and well maintained green space.

Satellite view of Lacamas Lake

Water Height from Surface to Bottom of Pier

Trial #1 July 10

Trial# 2 July 18

Trial #3 August 8

Trial #4 August 15

Trial #5 August 22

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Water Height

Centimeters

Water Temperature

Trial #1 July 10

Trial# 2 July 18

Trial #3 August 8

Trial #4 August 15

Trial #5 August 22

0 5 10 15 20 25

Water Temperature

Degrees Celsius

Air Temperature

Trial #1 July 10

Trial# 2 July 18

Trial #3 August 8

Trial #4 August 15

Trial #5 August 22

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Air Temperature

Degrees Celsius

pH levels

Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

6.4 6.6 6.8 7 7.2 7.4 7.6 7.8 8 8.2

pH levels

pH

BOD

Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Biochemical Oxygen Demand

parts per million

Dissolved Oxygen

Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Dissolved Oxygen % Saturation

% saturation

Phosphates

Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Phosphates

parts per million

Nitrate – none detected

Trial 1

Trial 2

Trial 3

Trial 4

Trial 5

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Nitrates

Nitrate ppm

Macro-invertebrates

We were disappointed after evaluating the macro-invertebrates in the lake.

Finds:4 aquatic worms2 blackfly larvae3 midge larvaeThese are all tolerantThis would indicate that the water quality

is poor.

Summary

The biggest surprise for me was that I cultured e coli in Lacamas Lake twice of the three tests. I contacted the health department both times and they didn’t seem too concerned, also surprising.

I had no idea that Lacamas Lake was so polluted or that it was eutrophic.

It is good information for me to have when planning to go swimming.

Too bad the general public doesn’t have this information readily available. I was able to find out with some difficulty that Lacamas is only monitored once a month from May to December by volunteers. When looking for the results of this testing, I could only find a water study from 1997.

It would be helpful to the public to be able to access this data so they

could make an informed choice about where to swim in the summer.

Is Lacamas Lake safe to swim? In my opintion no, except for dogs.